The Iraq War 2003 in Western media and public opinion Essay

The Iraq War 2003 in Western media and public opinion - Essay Example Although opinion polls indicated a shift in the British public opinion about the war, the public opinion did not actually change during the entire period. Though the polls conducted by different agencies in the UK indicated an increase in the level of support for the war, it did not reflect the true opinion of the public. The public opinion only appeared to change because of the shortfalls in the polling process. In any opinion poll, there are priority issues that can alter the respondents’ answer depending on the way they are presented. If such priority issues are overshadowed by time or other events, the pollsters can ignore them in subsequent polls. For instance, in the British case, the pollsters left out the key issues because of time and other events that had occurred. Thus, if it were possible to incorporate the key events in the polls disregarding other events that had occurred, the polls could have otherwise suggested a different result. Apart from ignoring the real i ssues that initially determined people’s attitude, opinion polls possibly misidentified the respondents’ support for related issues as the support of the war. For instance, a respondent could have identified with one side of the conflict for personal reasons without necessarily supporting the war. In such situation, the polls deceptively indicated the support of the war. As a result, the outcome became unreliable. According to Baines and Worcester (2005), the public opinion changed during the war because of three major reasons.